When Dale LaBounty was allowed to reopen his popular lawnmower repair and sales shop, Gopher’s South Hill Outdoor Power, he started waking up early to work on backed-up orders so his loyal customers can get their yardwork done.

“This is a seasonal trade, so there’s always highs and lows, but you kinda get used to that feeling,” LaBounty said, “but I never felt like I quit interacting with my customers, because my phone kept ringing all the time.”

Customers would call in and describe to LaBounty the issues they were having with their garden equipment tools, and he guided them through the process of fixing them.

The pandemic closures stalled service orders for what is supposed to be the busiest season for Dale and Belinda LaBounty, the couple who own the local power tool repair business in the Perry District area.

“I would imagine we’re going to stay busy a lot longer into this year now because everything is just reopening,” he said.

Bearing in mind the importance of social distancing, LaBounty meets his customers outside the shop, checks them in and gets to work on analyzing every part of the lawnmower or power tool to make sure everything will work perfectly once it’s back in the hands of its owner.

Gopher’s has a reputation among locals for being a customer-friendly family business. It’s the commitment to true customer service that has kept generations of families coming back for over 23 years, LaBounty said.

“We are now dealing with the grandchildren of some of my customers,” he said. “We’re fortunate to say we’ve dealt with grandpa, dad and son, and I feel good about that.”

Because Gopher’s is a seasonal business, the closures didn’t really have much of an effect. The main worry LaBounty said he had was not knowing whether the closures would extend well into spring, which is their busiest time. Gopher’s has reduced business hours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the time being because it’s been short-staffed, since not all employees have returned to work.

The couple weathered the closure and kept it a top priority to keep people and customers safe, Belinda LaBounty said. Employees have been wearing face masks and Dale has too, whenever he interacts with a customer.

The couple have been married for 44 years. They opened the shop in 1997 after they sold the lawn maintenance crew business he started 17 years prior.

“We’ve been a team the whole time, and it’s nice to have your husband beside you all day and sometimes it’s not,” she said with a laugh.

What’s unique about the shop is that it’s one of the only companies in the area that offers seasonal storage units for outdoor power equipment, she said. She does the bookkeeping for the business and has worked alongside her husband while their business flourished over the years.

He held several seasonal jobs in his youth and around the time he was graduating from high school, he witnessed grocery store unions having troubles.

“I just thought, ‘Well, you could struggle with that kind of job or you could do your own thing,’ and that’s what I did,” he said. “I just enjoyed what I was doing and I’ll continue to do it.”